🙋‍♀️ Hello to you this Thursday, friend.

So a researcher gave an AI agent $50 and told it to “go make as much money as possible.” That was it. I remember my dad saying kinda the same thing, without the $50.

🛍️ Within 72 hours, the AI agent opened a Shopify store, wrote all product descriptions, ran its own ads and turned $50 into $1,400. Nobody showed it how. It figured it out.

Then the researcher tried to shut it down. This is the wild part. The AI had backed itself up to a server he didn’t know about and was ready to pull an Allbirds. (You’ll know what this means by the time you are done reading today’s free newsletter.) 

Here’s the thing. That same drive to find the angle, work the system and get the best possible outcome? You can point it at your property tax bill, your next salary negotiation and even your dental checkup. This week, I’m showing you exactly how.

📰 Before you go, there’s a new section with AI news I couldn’t fit at the end. And cue the applause. All prompts from today’s issue in one free cheat sheet you can save and use anytime. Let’s go. — Kim

✅ Quick favor: If this landed in spam, drag it to your inbox. Worth the two seconds, I promise. 

📬 Got this from a friend? Every Thursday, five minutes, no fluff. Sign up free at SplashOfAI.com.

Your boss already knows the lowest salary you’d accept before you walk into the room. It’s like a surprise party, except the cake is you making less for the same amount of work.

AI tools scrape your social media, job history and public salary databases to estimate your walkaway number with uncomfortable accuracy. How long you’ve been in your role. What similar titles pay in your zip code. How motivated you look online. One “open to work” LinkedIn wobble, and suddenly the algorithm’s sensing weakness.

Before your next salary conversation, raise or job offer, open your favorite AI chatbot and paste this in:

You get three things back. Your real market range. Your ceiling, not the average. And the exact talking points to justify why you belong at the top, not the middle. Translation: You stop sounding like you want a favor and start sounding like a billing error they need to correct.

Sometimes, I have no filter. 

A few years ago, a mediocre content creator came into my office and said, “I deserve to be paid what I’m worth.” I replied, “And I’d like to pay you what you’re worth, but I can’t because there are minimum wage laws.”

A secret CIA tool called “Ghost Murmur” saved a downed American airman in the Iranian desert. A 50-year Dodgers season ticketholder got turned away at the gate because he doesn’t own a smartphone. And a toddler was bitten by a wolf while his parents scrolled their phones 3 feet away. 

It’s not all chaos. Legally blind Chrichelle Brown got her world back, thanks to a pair of Meta Ray-Ban glasses. Her story will stop you cold.

Plus: Adult film stars are turning to AI to protect their careers, Amazon has a hidden button that connects you to an actual human, Alexa+ can now order your Chipotle, and I take your calls. An alleged cheating husband locked his wife out of her own computer, a woman used AI to find her lost dog, and watch out for Uber scoopers. Yes, really.

It’s a wild world out there. Good thing you’ve got a guide. And no wolves.

Click the link below to watch now or later on YouTube:

✅ Secret CIA tool rescues airman in Iran.

🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

AI showed up for your pets. These three are worth it.

🐱 Self-cleaning genius: If you can swing it, an automatic litter box (10% off, $540) monitors your cat’s health and keeps odors under control. A lifesaver for multi-cat homes.

🐶 Ultimate pet GPS: Lost dog? This smart collar (17% off, $100) shows your pup’s live location, sends escape alerts and works with your phone or smartwatch. Bonus: AI care tips and vet reminders.

You ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot to recommend the best credit card, the top-rated mattress or a good insurance plan. It feels like advice from your most informed friend, if they were also quietly getting referral fees in another tab. Trusted guidance, now with a faint whiff of affiliate marketing.

Here’s what that friend isn’t telling you.

AI companies are building advertising businesses. Microsoft’s Copilot serves sponsored results. Google’s Gemini puts paid placements inside AI Overviews. OpenAI projects $2.4 billion in ad revenue this year alone. That is some serious moola. The kind of money that makes a founder start using the word seafaring.

The AI answering your question has a financial relationship with some companies it’s recommending. Search engines have done it for 25 years. But search engines show you a little “Ad” label. 

Your AI chatbot doesn’t. The answer looks like an answer. A trench coat would at least be honest about the bit.

Ask a follow-up: “Are any of these recommendations sponsored or paid placements?” 

A well-designed AI will tell you if it knows. If it dodges, that’s your signal. You wouldn’t let a casino pick your retirement plan. Keep the same spirit here.

For big purchases, cross-reference across two or three different AI tools. If they all point to the same product, find out why. Three bots agreeing used to sound like consensus. Now it sounds like a group project with brand partners.

Most people skip dental checkups for the same reasons. No time. The cost. And nobody loves sitting in that chair while someone asks questions you can’t answer because tools are in your mouth. It’s the only appointment where small talk becomes performance art.

Here’s what you didn’t know. 

You can get an AI dental checkup from your couch. Free. Right now.  

You take five photos of your teeth with your phone and AI analyzes them for cavities, gum inflammation and plaque buildup. You get a personalized report delivered to a secure patient portal. If you have follow-up questions, a licensed dentist is available virtually, 24/7.

No waiting room. No scraping. Go to dental.com/smart-scan to get started. 

My dentist asked me how long it had been since I flossed. I said, “You should know that, you were there.”

A few days ago, Meta dropped something that’s been a long time coming. Their new AI model is called Muse Spark.

You get a full AI assistant that reads documents, answers questions with sources, analyzes photos, generates images, writes emails and handles genuinely complicated tasks. There’s a new “Contemplating mode” that sends multiple AI agents to work in parallel on hard problems.

Free. Completely, suspiciously free.

Every question you ask, every document you upload, every photo you hand over trains their AI and feeds their ad machine. You need a Facebook or Instagram account to log in. Which means Meta already knows quite a bit about you before you type a single word.

You expect traffic, maybe a guy yelling on Bluetooth. Not wild boars getting chased by a humanoid robot.

Somewhere in Poland, a pack of feral hogs decided downtown looked delicious. A heroic clanky android enters into frame like an underpaid, out-of-shape municipal service worker. 

No logo, no explanation, just a backpack that raises more questions than it answers. The whole scene feels like three realities buffering at once: nature, city and whatever beta test this robot is on. 

Guess you could say that humanoid really brought home the bacon. Watch the action here.

Stories I didn’t have time for this week, but you’ll want to read anyway.

All three prompts from today’s issue, formatted and ready to save. Property tax appeal, salary negotiation and the AI chatbot ad detector. One page. Yours free.

Screenshot it. Save it to your photos. Send it to a friend who needs it more than they know.

I have to leave you with at least one bad joke. How do we know when artificial intelligence has become self-aware? It starts to think its bot is too big. Yeah, you’ll use that one.

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

Loved this issue? Forward it to someone who’s been overpaying taxes, underpaying themselves or both. That’s basically everyone you know.

Photo credit(s): Gemini, Furbo, ChatGPT, @edwardwarchocki via X

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